Too much sugar

Yesterday on our drive into school, my nine-year-old son, David, and I had a conversation that really blessed me - a conversation worth sharing, I think:

D: Mom, I've had a lot of compliments lately.

Me: Oh really?

D: Yeah. The art teacher complimented me on my attention to detail, my music teacher says I play all my notes perfectly, and Mrs. Spain (his home room teacher) says she is very impressed by my knowledge of the Bible.

Me: That's great, David.

D: (said in his most sober, thoughtful voice) I'm not sure I really like getting so many compliments. I think it's like sugar. A little is good, but the more you get, the more you want. And with compliments, it feels like it leads to pride. I want to be humble.

We talked about how we can turn every compliment we get right into praise and thanks to God, and in that way our hearts stay clean and humble. By the end of the conversation he was smiling and nodding, so I think we're good.

Goodness, I am so blessed to be this young man's mama.

Comments

[Lori]

Wow. What a good time together you had. You know those days when you feel like your not a good mom? Come back here and read your post. Love you, Mim!

[the fisherlady]

I thought this reading from "Our Daily Bread" would bless your boy...
READ: 1 Peter 4:7-11

. . . that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. —1 Peter 4:11
Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) was a World War II concentration camp survivor and Christian who became a popular speaker around the world. Thousands attended her meetings as she talked about how she had learned to forgive her captors just as Christ had forgiven her sins.
After each meeting, people surrounded her and heaped accolades on her for her godly qualities and thanked her for encouraging them in their walk with the Lord. Corrie said she would then return to her hotel room, get down on her knees, and present those compliments in thanks to God. She called it giving God “a bouquet of praise.”
The Lord has given each of us gifts to use to minister to one another (1 Peter 4:10) so that “in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever” (v.11). We have nothing to offer others that we have not first received from the Lord (1 Cor. 4:7), so the glory does belong to Him.
To learn humility, perhaps we could follow Corrie’s example. If we receive a compliment for something we’ve said or done, let’s privately give a bouquet of praise to God for the glory He alone deserves. —Anne Cetas
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious—Thy great name we praise. —Smith
Praise is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

[Miriam]

Thanks Lori, friend. :)

And Fisherlady! Thank you for sharing... I'm sorry I'm so slow to reply... I sometimes go long chunks of time without checking in here. What a good reading - I will share it with my son.

[Stephanie]

Isn't it so precious when we see God working in the hearts of our little ones?!